Engagement Party
by ToniiiMaus
Summary: Wishful thinking about Season 5. My version of what might happen in the beginning of S5 with Nick and Jess. (doesn't have to do a lot with the engagement party but I couldn't think of a better title)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, just a couple of things or lets say excuses: This is my first attempt on writing Fanfiction; English is not my mother tongue and I'm generally bad with writing and words, so in my head it sounds more logical that it might on paper. But I thought I'd give it shot since this long New Girl hiatus exists and there have not been so many stories published lately. Also, I don't know yet if I'm going to continue this story, it might just stay a one-shot. I hope you can enjoy it somehow but if not, well you're not forced to read it anyways** **J**

The roommates and Cece had a little, secret engagement party at Clyde's that weekend after Schmidt had purposed. It was nothing special, just a nice occasion to have a few drinks on a Saturday evening.

Jess and Nick found themselves sitting in a booth squished together, laughing and drinking. They were both quite tipsy which was actually a good thing. These were the only times where they were really able to talk and act around each other like they used to. And I mean like really talk, talk about almost anything without hesitations. Like they used to before…you know, before they broke up.

"No seriously, Schmidt is already talking about wedding decorations. "

"Crazy. Schmidt is the last person I would have thought to be the first to be serious about marriage. Has he actually banged enough women for getting married? He once told me about this list he has, in which he counts sexual encounters, and explained to me that you have to have a least this number of sexual partners before you can consider getting married"

"Jess. Don't talk like that" a distorted expression on his face.

"Like what?

"It's weird when you put words in your mouth like "bang". It doesn't fit you."

"Well u didn't use to mind them in bed…" she said laughing but her mind went _Ups. That was not on purpose._ Nicks eyed grew bigger.

"Sorry. That was awkward"

"Don't worry Jess. It's just weird to hear it but it's not like a secret that we used to be together you know"

"Yes, I know. It just felt awkward talking about it. It seems so far away from reality-"

"Like we were in a whole different world back than. I know what you mean… Sometimes I miss it though."

"You miss what?"

"No, no, no…not like this. I mean like the times when we were closer."

"What do you mean?"

"No,no,no. Oh gheez, I'm so bad at this" he laughs nervously "No not close in THIS way but I miss more like talking to you like we used to. You know? Like there were things that I was only comfortable talking to you about and now it's different you know?"

"I do…" She took a quick glance at his face, met is eyes for a second "but you can still talk to me about anything you do know that right?"

"Yes…but it's different. Somehow, I can't explain it." his voice had changed, it sounded more sensitive, maybe kind of sad.

"Nick.." she slowly moved her hand towards his-

"Jess! Jessica, let's forget about this and have another drink, shall we?"

"Ok. If you want." A little taken aback by his quick change of topic.

"I insist. We are celebrating Schmidt's and Cece's engagement remember?" He took a quick glance around the bar to spot them somewhere in the corner looking like they urgently needed to get a room. Nick laughed "They do not keep their happiness to themselves do they?

"Nope." Jess laughed.

Jess played with the straw of her drink waiting for Nick to return with their drinks.

"Heeeeyyy…here we go! Shots aaand my favorite: long island ice tea" he said sarcastically.

"Iuuu, Nick! Long island ice tea? This stuff is poison"

"Well it's Saturday night, I feel like drinking and you are the lucky one who's gonna have to drink with me" he smiled genuinely at her, exited for the booze that he was hoping to make his mind go numb.

"Hey where's Winston actually?"

"Oh I just caught him leaving with some girl"

"UUh. Go, Winston!"

"Yes. Finally."

* * *

Nick and Jess stumbled into the apartment, holding each other for balance (mostly). They kicked of their shoes and made their way to the kitchen.

"I gotta say, Jess. That was really fuuhun!" he said as he filled a glass with tap water at the sink. Jess sat down at the counter watching his back.

"You want one too?" he pointed at the water glass.

"Yes, please."

Nick placed the two water glasses with a little too much momentum in front of them and sat next to Jess. Some water spilled on the table. ( _Nick noted: controlled movement is limited)_ They both took their glass and had big sip of water, looking at each other. A smile curled on their mouths as they slowly placed the glasses back on the counter.

"Sooo…."

"So?"

They both laughed again, they didn't even know why. Was there something funny about the situation? Everything was a little blurry and a bit unreal. Part was the alcohol, part was the late time of day/night (4 am to be exact) and lastly there was the part of their beating hearts in each others company.

Nick kept eye contact with her for a bit and they could feel the mood changing.

Before he knew it, he was leaning in for a kiss. He meant it to be soft but somehow his lips landed on hers uncontrolled and a little harder than expected. His hand moved to her cheek to steady the situation. It wasn't like a deep kiss or something, more like short, sweet kisses and… _oh, she was responding indeed_. He tilted his head a little more and placed a last long kiss on her lips before they broke apart. They looked into each others eyes. Jess eyes where questioning him like " _where did that come from?_ ". Then she looked away and jumped off her chair and moved towards her bedroom. _She was drunk…that she knew at least, this was not a good idea._

"Jess…" _Ok. Fair enough_.

"Jess..?"

She was still walking towards her bedroom. Nick jumped off his chair and caught her before she could escape into her bedroom. He turned her around and lifted her head with his finger to face him.

"Hey Jess. I'm sorry. I really am"

"No it's ok. I… it's just a little bit to much-" his lips were on hers again. _Damn it, why did he keep doing this…_ Jess broke the kiss while her hands trailed down his arms to grab his hands. Their foreheads were touching.

"Nick…" Nick kept his eyes closed and than moved his head to bury it in her neck. "I don't think this is a good idea…I don't want us to regret this"

He was breathing against her skin. He whispered "You are right, I know that. But I hate this. Always denying, keeping it together. I can't do this tonight…"

"Nick…" there was sadness in her voice. He was so vulnerable and open right now, it made her heart ache. She ran her right hand through his already messy hair, turning her head, she placing a soft kiss on the top of his head. Slowly she moved her hand to his cheek and guided his head back to level with hers. She glanced back and forth between his lips and eyes, before she made her decision.

* * *

He tried to scratch an itchy spot on his face and realized he couldn't. This girl was lying on his stretched out arm at the far end of his… _ehm, oh,_ her bed. Her back was facing him, so he moved closer to her and gently removed his hand from underneath her body. Nick placed an arm under her shirt on her belly, stroking the warm skin. He moved a little bit closer before finding a comfortable position to drift to sleep again.

* * *

Her head felt dizzy when she first woke up. Jess was facing the windows of her room and behind her was an oven hot creature spooning her. She could feel the hot breath at the back of her head. She turned slowly in his embrace, to face the man keeping her warm. _Yeah..she was aware. She was aware that she had slept with him, again. Obviously, he was lying next to her but somehow she was not ready to freak out, she was way too hungover for that stage yet. (side note: It was still good. No doubts about that.)_ Jess felt herself blushing at the thought and a guilty smile crept upon her face. She must have moved too much because Nick tiredly moved a little bringing her closer to him. Her middle was pretty much pressed up against his and he could feel him still (or again) hard. Jess placed a hand on his cheek and lightly stroked it. She examined his face, which still had all these little imperfections that made it so perfect.

Nick decided it might be time to start opening his eyes, to find out what she was doing there. It felt all so familiar and it kind of hurt, this scene brought back to many memories. As his eyes opened, he locked them with hers. They didn't know what to do or to say nor did they want to think about it. Right now, this felt good though, they were in their own bubble. Nick slowly moved his head closer to hers and his mouth touched hers ever so lightly. They stayed like this for little while avoiding reality

Than her phone rang, both winced a little at the disturbing sound. It took a moment to convince her body to move. She lifted her body and stretched it out all the way over Nick to reach for her mobile. While she was dealing with the distance between her phone and hand, Nick had problems on his own to deal with…because you know her boobs were like directly dangling in his face, luckily there was a little cotton in between. Still, it was driving him nuts. When she wasn't able to reach it like this, she sat on her knees and moved one leg over Nicks chest to the other side of his body, so that now her definitely not covered lady parts where cenitmeters away from his chin. _Seriously…_

"Jess. " he said urgent and pulled her body back in her earlier spot. "Let me get this." He reached for her phone and handed her the phone.

"Thanks" she whispered as she sat in an upright position, back against the wall.

"Hey, this is Jess….oh hey…Ok. …mhm…..ok….Oh what? You mean today, today? In 3 hrs? what? Ok…alright. Well, I'll do my best. I'll see you there. Bye!"

"What is it?" Nick questioned as Jess jumped out of bed.

"EEhm, Mr. Foster just called me…" Jess trailed off as she was looking for her suitcase to start packing essentials.

"Aand?"

"Shhh…Nick. Somebody will hear you!" she proceeded with packing. "and I'm called for sequestered jury duty.."

"You what?" Nick sat on the edge of his bed. His mind definitely was not ready to think, he was still a little drunk, he was sure.

"Yes, I know." Her hectic movements were making Nick nervous. "I was kinda expecting it but not today and maybe a little bit ahead of time. My flight is in 3 hours, I don't know why they couldn't tell me that earlier. Some last minute changes…"

"Ok." Nick ran a hand over his face, trying to clear his mind. "Ok…"

He got up and moved towards her, taking her arms to try to calm her down. She tried to fight it but when he saw the reassuring look in his eyes she stopped.

"Calm down, Jess. It's gonna be alright. I know it's a little bit too much right now but you'll manage. Can I make you some breakfast so you can eat something before you leave?"

"That would be actually nice but you really need to let me pack now. Try to get out of here without anybody noticing. I can't handle a Schmidt or Winston freak out or what ever their reaction would be."

"Don't worry"

"For that you have to get dressed though?"

"I will. " he laughed. Not quite sure if this was the right move, he placed both his hands on her cheeks and leaned in for a long and tender kiss. He distanced his face from hers again and locked eyes for a moment. Her eyes were glassy, it was too much going on in her head. And she knew that look he was giving her, it was all too familiar _._ Her mind kept wondering how they had managed to find themselves in this situation again _…_

* * *

Nick put on his pants and shirt that he found lying around on the floor. He slowly opened Jess' bedroom door and peeked outside. Nobody was there. Good. He slowly moved towards his and Schmidt's bedroom door. He was praying that he had spend the night at Cece's and not here. And indeed the air was clear. There was no Schmidt to be found in their room. _It was really time that Schmidt moved back into Coach's room._

* * *

10 minutes before she had to leave she found herself sitting with Nick at the kitchen counter enjoy the scrambled eggs he had made for her. They did not speak or anything. Nick was very focused on his coffee mug and took small sips now and than. There was actually nobody in the loft besides them, both Winston and Schmidt had spent the night outside the loft which was kind of a relief.

"Ok. I have to go. Cab should be here any minute." Jess said quickly taking a glance at her phone.

"Ok. I'll walk you down to your cab."

"No, no, it's okay. I think I can handle taking the elevator by myself"

"Ok."

They both moved towards the door and Nick held the door open and followed to the elevator. Jess pressed the button, the elevator had to come up all the way from the basement.

Nick looked at her, not sure what to do next. He made step towards her and slowly hugged her.

"Goodbye Jess." He whispered in her ear. "I…have a save trip. Text me when you land or if you need anything."

"Thanks. I'll see you in a bit"

Not ready to let go of the embrace he continued "I meant what I said yesterday and…I don't regret anything what happened last night. Never with you." Jess closed her eyes as he placed a soft kiss on her cheek before letting her go.

* * *

 **One last thing, this jury duty thing Jess is suppose to go to, I still don't fully understand, we don't think we have this in my country or there is no proper translation. So this might all not make perfectly sense. Thanks for reading! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, so I think I will continue this story for 2-3 more chapters. This chapter might be a little different from what you expected.**

Schmidt was giving his best attention to the boiling pasta in the pot, making sure it would NOT stick together. He was making a late lunch/early dinner kind of thing since they slept through half of the day due to consumption of alcoholic beverages during the previous night. Nick and Cece were sitting at the kitchen counter, waiting impatiently for the food to be done.

"This noodle meal is taking forever, Schmidt! I'm starving!"

"Well this "noodle dish" is actually called _Farfalle con sugo de coniglio_ and it takes its time."

"Stop referring to it like it's this fancy thing, to me it looks like tomato sauce and weird shaped noodles"

" _Farfalle con sugo de coniglio_!"

"Oh my god. If this thing isn't ready in 5, I'll go down to the McDonalds across the street and have a burger"

"Go ahead. I'm only doing this to impress my fianceee(!) anyway." he turned around to wink at her.

"Schmidt, I think this is lovely and I'm very impressed but I would be even more impressed if at some point soon we would be able to eat it!" she said with her typical sarcastic voice, a smile on her face though.

"See!" Nick stretched out is arm for a fist-bump. Cece was not quite sure about this gesture but hesitantly moved her fist towards Nick's anyway.

"Ok. Ok. The pasta is almost _al dente_."

"Great. Cece, did you hear that? The pasta is almost AL DENTE"

* * *

Ten minutes later they finally had food on their plates. Nick was still convinced that it was tomato sauce with some meat in it but who cares, it was food.

"Hey Schmidt, can you pass me the cheese?"

"The what?"

"The cheese."

"Excuse me, I didn't understand correctly."

"You know this bowl next to you with the yellow stuff inside?"

Schmidt took a glance at the grated parmesan placed next to his plate.

"Ah you mean the _parmigianooo_ "

"Oh my…Schmidt. Stop it! I'm serious, just pass me the damn cheese!"

"Nick, what's with the range. Just tell me what you want and I'll give it to you"

"One last time. Gimme the damn cheese!"

"I' m sorry I still can't- NOOO" Nick had jumped off his chair and moved around the table to get the bowl. Schmidt grabbed it before his hands could reach it and got off his chair as well.

"Just tell me what you want Nick…it's not that difficult." He kinda sang, running around the loft.

Cece was having a bless, by the way, it was like live TV while having her dinner.

Nick tried to catch Schmidt while he was running away from him, which eventually led to distributing the grated cheese all over the loft. They stopped in their movement when they heard the front door shutting closed and a few seconds later Winston appeared around the corner.

"Goodnight, Gentlemen. What do we have here?"

"Hey Winston! How are ya?"

"Guys, you wouldn't believe-" Winston started enthusiastically.

"Please before you start, we don't wanna hear about your sexual encounter"

"Really? Not even a little bit? It's worth telling, I can assure you!"

"Nope, pass!"

"Alright than, I guess I should take a shower than 'cause you know, I'm all dirty" he emphasized and winked at them.

"Great. Go get that shower." Winston turned on his heels with a smile on his face and walked towards the bathroom.

"We're proud of you buddy!"

* * *

"So Jess is on sequestered jury duty?"

"Yes, that's what she told me."

"She only sent me a text this morning that she might be gone for a little due to jury duty, which she had mentioned before. Did she tell you for how long or where exactly she was going to?" Cece seemed a little concerned.

"Nope. She just said it might be a while."

"Ok, I hope not too long. It's weird not having her around…What where you doing up that early anyways, I got that text like at 9 or something in the morning."

"I don't know. She can be loud around the loft when she's in a hurry."

"You once told me that literally nothing can wake you up when you're hungover?"

"Well I did. Who cares anyway. Fact is she's not here. She mentioned though that she might be able to give us one final call when she knows herself what's going on."

Schmidt sitting next to Nick and Cece, butt into their conversation "So this thing usually takes a little while doesn't it?"

"I don't know Schmidt, let's just wait 'till she calls us."

"No but I mean, if it takes like a month or two we might consider someone for intermediate rent?"

"Well, let's just wait first. See what comes next."

"You're obviously not gonna be able to pay her rent, are you? And I don't want to be the one covering her rent, so I'd like to plan ahead"

"Ok, mom. Let's better talk about you and moving back into your old room."

"What? Why do I have to move, Nick? We're both living in the same room right now. I don't wanna have the small room."

"Are you serious? This has been my room forever, I'm definitely not moving into YOUR old room!"

"Well, I don't wanna have the small room, so I'm staying"

"Noooo. You're not. Come on Cece, back me up here."

"I don't care, do what ever you want, honestly. You guys always had this weird thing going with switching rooms, I'm not gonna get into the middle of this…"

"I'm staying!"

"Oh god Schmidt. Why are you such a pain in the ass?"

"Why are you being so bitchy?"

"I'm gonna slap you. I'm serious, I'm gonna hurt you if you keep being like this."

"Chill man. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I'm gonna go back to MY room."

* * *

 _Later that night…_

"Niiiick! Your phone!"

"Cece? Where are you?"

"In Jess' room!" _Damn it, did I leave my phone in Jess' room this morning?_

Nick quickly made his way to Jess' room and took his phone from Cece who was holding it in her hands.

After the conversation ended, Cece was looking at him questioning, waiting for an explanation.

"What?"

"I don't wanna be nosy or anything but ehm..why was your phone on Jess' bed stand?"

"Well you are being nosy. What are you doing in here anyways?"

"You don't answer a question with a question."

"Well you know, I somehow left it here."

"Obviously…?"

"Yes?"

"And? How did it get there?"

"I…..ehm…better reception in here and than I must have left it here, I guess?" He didn't even believe his own words…

"Ok. Makes sense." Cece examined his face closely. _He was so bad at lying, it was ridiculous. She knew it was his room that usually had better reception and Jess always had to leave her room when Cece called because she couldn't understand her well._

Cece smiled at him and he knew she didn't believe him but he had no better excuse right now, so he had to stick to it.

"Aaand just out of curiosity…" She pointed at his flannel lying on the bedroom floor. _Ok, congratulation Nick Miller. Way to keep things secret._

"She likes wearing my flannels sometimes, so I gave her one to keep."

"This hideous thing? Jess has told me that she hates this flannel in particular."

"She did?" his mind went off topic a little, thinking about the fact that he had been wearing this since forever and she had never said anything before.

"Yes, Nick. Look at this thing, it's 100 years old and the colors brown, yellow and blue are combined. Who wears that?"

"Well thank you. But I love it."

"This is not what we were talking about. "

"Well I told you, she likes wearing it.."

"You wore this yesterday"

"Well you know I …" Cece started genuinely smiling at him, she did had some sympathy for that guy, he was really trying.

"Come on Nick, I'm not stupid."

"No you're not. And I'm an idiot"

"It's okay. I would have liked to hear it from Jess first though. "

"Can you please keep it to yourself?"

"I can."

"Thank you..."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Is there something-"

"No. I well, no I don't think. No, I'm sure actually. She's gone now anyway."

"You haven't talked about it?"

"No we have not."

"Do you want to?"

"Ah Cece, stop asking me questions. You're making me nervous. Can we just keep it to ourselves and drop it?"

"Ok, as you wish."

* * *

Jess called the next day telling them that she would be gone for a while and that an intermediate rent would be appropriate. This girl called Reagan moved in a couple of days later. She had dark hair as well but most importantly, she was like really hot. Like from a scale from 1 to 10, at least a 12. That's at least all Schmidt was able to say about her when he talked about their new roommate who had moved in.

* * *

Jess returned on a Thursday night, a little more than a month after she had left. She wasn't able to keep in touch with them but she had sent them a text a couple of days before that she would be coming back soon.

Nothing much had changed during her absence, it was all just a little less, let's say colorful. The lack of her constant optimism surrounding the loft, made their lives somehow less exciting and cheerful. It's not like they talked about it but they felt it and they sure as hell were relieved when they received her text. Besides that nothing much had changed in the loft. Nick did miss Jess, he would think about her now and than and how it would be nice to have her around again. There was also still that thing which had happened the night before she had left. He wasn't quite sure if he was supposed to think about it as it being a big deal or if she would come back things would be just back to normal, pretending like nothing happened. Honestly, he didn't know what he would prefer. He wasn't up for a big drama thing again, he'd done it before and it was tiring and definitely not good for his blood pressure. He just wanted it to be nice and simple, like with normal people but this was never the case for them. Pretending though might even make it worse. So…the obvious choice was to just mostly avoid that whole topic in his head while she was gone.

"Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink!" These were the first words she got to hear when she opened the door to the loft.

"Jeessss!" they sang in a choir when they saw her.

"Hello guys! I missed you!" she had the biggest smile on her face. They all made their way to her and gave her a big hug. Nick might have also placed a beer-wet kiss on her cheek but you know, she'd gotten home from a long trip so this was acceptable.

"You just got here right on time! Are you up for the one and only True American?"

"Oh guys, I had such an exhausting trip…"

"Come on. No excuses. You're back, let's celebrate!"

"Ok. Ok. Ok. Let me just quickly get changed. You guys go ahead and make new teams"

"Ok let's flip a coin!"

* * *

"Ok. Schmidt is with Reagan, Cece you are with Winston and me I'm with Jess. Let's do this! Jess are you ready?"

"Yes, yes I'm coming. See? Here I am. " she waved both arms in the air.

* * *

"Jesssiiicaaaa! Jesssiiiicccaaaa! We woooon! Gimme that king of the castle: Mr. Daniels! Mr. Jack Daniels, agent of the national secret service! Always a reliable friend!" Nick picked up Jess from the ground and carried her to their price.

"Ok. Nick. I think you should keep your price for another occasion. I think your liver has had and will deal with enough for tonight" Reagan tried to reason.

"Ok. Mrs. Doctor-know-it-all but only because you say so!"

Nick tried his best to carefully place Jess back onto the ground.

"Ok ladies. I think we're gonna hit the hay!" Cece said as she leaned against Schmidt's shoulder, gripping his hand tightly.

"Wait. Where is Jess actually gonna sleep?"

"I wanted to crash with you for a couple of days but I guess that's quite inconvenient tonight, isn't it?"

Everybody was looking at each other, not quite sure how to solve the problem…Winston raised his voice first, concerned about his later plans.

"Not in my room, guys! I might get a late night visit from a lady friend of mine tonight."

"Jess can sleep with me!" Everybody turned their heads towards Nick rising their eye brows. Nick thought hard about what he head said, repeating the words in his head. _Oooh..._

"No sorry. I meant like she can have my bed, I'll sleep on the floor. In honor of our beatiful victory tonight!" he smiled and turned his head to face Jess.


	3. Chapter 3

When Jess got back from the bathroom, she found Nick lying in the middle of his bed, arms and legs stretched out in every direction. Jess smiled to herself, walked towards the bed and whispered near his ear.

"Nick if you offer me to sleep in your bed, you have to leave some space for me"

"hmm?"

"Can you move a little so that I can fit?"

Nick slowly open his eyes and looked at her, than moved to one side of the bed to give her some space.

Jess crawled under the covers and stared at the ceiling.

"Hey Jess, is it okay if I stay here?" he asked with a sleepy voice.

"Of course, I'm not gonna kick you out of your own bed, silly."

"No, because I said I'd offer you my bed and now I'm here…and I, I'm honestly to lazy to set up another bed."

"It's okay…Just one thing"

"What?"

"No snoring, please?" Jess laughed a little and turned her body to face him.

"Excuse me? I never snore!" Nick said in playful disbelieve, eyes gone wide.

"Yes you do." She pressed her finger into his chest, accusingly. "When you're drunk or sick. I've told you that before."

"But it's not true. You should be the one concerned about snoring.."

"Don't turn this on me."

"I've slept with one trillion women and none of them ever complained about my snoring. So you must obviously be imaging things."

"Easy with the confidence there. ...Maybe the snoring is not at the top of their list about things to complain about Nick Miller..." Jess grinned.

"I'm fantastic, no one ever complains about me! What would they have to complain about?"

"Blanket stealing would be in my top 5 too!"

"Says the queen of blanket stealing."

"I only steal it after you've possessed the blanket for the whole night…"

"Sure…"

Nick had turned to face her as well and they started smiling at the stupidity of their conversation.

"I'm just gonna shove you down the bed if you start snoring again in the middle of the night." She kept smiling.

"Yeah well, I wanna see you trying to move my sleeping body…" he laughed.

They turned quite again and studied each others face. After a while, Nick found his words again.

"How was it?"

"How was what?"

"You know, jury duty."

"Oh, it was okay. I mean, we're not allowed to talk about it that much."

"But you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good.."

Silence again.

"I missed you, Jess." He whispered softly. "A little bit.."

His eyes where reflecting the light which came from under the bedroom.

She smiled at him and moved her hand to stroke is his cheek lightly. His own hand moved to her wrist to keep it from moving away again. There was this magnetic pull again which made it hard for Nick to keep his hands to himself. You know, how they say, that objects with mass attract each other, it's physical nature. With this in mind he moved in to place light kiss on her mouth. She didn't have much time to respond as he was already distancing himself from her again by the time she realized it.

"Sorry. I just wanted to say goodnight, I guess.."

"It's okay. Goodnight, Nick. You're gonna have a massive hang over tomorrow, by the way."

"You're probably right." He gave her one last smile, squeezed her hand and turned around to face the window of his bedroom.

She turned around to face the other side of the room too and closed her eyes. His drunken smile and look on his face was still fixed in her mind and she tried to get rid of it but it was not that easy and it was starting to confuse her.

* * *

The next morning, Jess was already up when Nick woke up. He had this searing pain in his head, which made it difficult to actually open his eyes. _Oh my…_ He contorted his face and moved to the edge of his bed to sit. Everything was spinning and he wasn't sure if he either wanted to sleep again, throw up or just drop dead. Latter was probably the correct choice.

A little while later he found himself walking towards the kitchen.

Jess was reading a newspaper at the one side of the counter closer to the sink, Reagan was sitting on the other side studying the latest copy of _Pharmacy today._

When Reagan took notice of Nick, she got off her bar chair "Good morning, grumpy head" she said amused.

Jess took a glance at her, a little surprised by how her mood had changed. When she entered the kitchen this morning she figured that Reagan wasn't a morning person or something because she was not up for a lot of conversation with her. That's why she'd retracted to her newspaper. But apparently, Nick had a different effect…

"Mornin' "he grunted back and took a glance at Jess, who had her eyes on him now as well.

"Wanna have a coffee?" Jess offered.

"Actually Jess, coffee is not the best idea after a heavy night. The mucosal tissue of his stomach is already irritated by the high acidity induced by the alcohol. Coffee would make him feel even worse."

Jess just looked at her irritated thinking like _Shut uup, give that poor man some coffee. What are u his mom?_ But she kept it to herself, smiled and noded.

"No actually a coffee would be great. My " _mucosal tissue"_ is just fine, Reagan. " He didn't want to sound mean but her way to always think she knew what's best for everyone, sometimes annoyed him.

"Alright Nick, whatever but don't come whining back to me afterwards."

"I won't, I promise." He smiled at her.

"Can I at least make you an smoothie and some eggs. Because that's what is actually going to help you with your hangover: vitamins, electrolytes and a proper breakfast."

"Ok, doctor. Whatever you say. What's with the energy today? Aren't you suppose to be hung over too?"

He flopped onto one of the chairs opposite from Jess, taking a glance at her face which was back to reading her newspaper. _This know-it-all woman, occupying her room, was annoying her…She was the real know-it-all, not her…_

* * *

When the breakfast was ready she placed a plate onto the counter in front of Nick, next to this weird juice she had made him.

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to ask, do u want some eggs too?" Reagan asked Jess. "I can't have them myself because I'm on a non-fat diet right now."

"Ofcourseyouare. But no, I'm good, thanks." She tried to smile politely. "So you and Schmidt must be best buddies, huh?"

Reagan sat on the chair next to Nick, so close her thigh was touching his. Nick in the meanwhile was gesturing to Jess like _nope that's not a topic we want to talk about right now (Schmidt)._

"No, I certainly do not get along with Schmidt. Why would you think that? I actually hate that guy, he's-"

"It's okay, Reagan, we know you're not a fan of Schmidt." he tried to smile despite his burning headache.

"Ok, ok..." she retreated. She was still sitting awfully close to Nick, much to his discomfort in front of Jess.

"By the way-" she placed a hand on his forearm, which was rested against the table in front of them "don't forget about IKEA today, you promised me we'd go there." Nick glanced over to Jess nervously and tried to free his arm again.

"I did?" _Yes he did, he knew that but this was a few days ago before he knew Jess would be coming home today._

Jess was watching the scene and she wasn't quite sure what was going on. Reagan was literally sitting on Nick's lap, stroking his arm and talking about shopping at IKEA. They acted around each other like they've known each other for ages _or because…_

"Yes, silly, you did. We wanted to buy some furniture for my new apartment."

Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Let's talk about this later..."

Jess tried to ignore the voice telling her to make an exit from this weird situation.

"So speaking of new apartment. When are you moving out?"

"Oh we agreed to the end of this week, so Sunday, probably. Sorry, I'm still occupying your room but I can't move into my new flat before Sunday."

"And where would that be?"

"Oh here in LA as well. I have to get I'm job done here."

"I see."

Reagan looked over to Nick and studied his face. Once in a while her hand would find his arm or shoulder again while Nick would nervously glance at Jess and she could not stop noticing the way Reagan touched him. It definitely did not lighten her mood.

"Hey you got some egg at the corner of your mouth. Here, let me get it." She reached over to remove the piece but Nick moved his head quickly away. "I can get it myself thanks."

"Alright than. I'm gonna go for a run, now. Don't forget IKEA, Nick!" she gave his shoulder a final squeeze and than made her way out of the loft, leaving Nick and Jess by themselves.

Nick returned his focus onto his plate, shuffling his breakfast into his mouth. He didn't want to look up. He didn't want to see the expression on her face. This guilty feeling, which he had successfully suppressed for the last week was creeping up on him again and it was drowning out his hung over prominently.

Jess was back to pretend-reading her newspaper even though she didn't even know which section she was "reading" anymore. There was a long pause before anybody spoke, Jess didn't know what to say or do nor did Nick. After a little while she got up from her chair, took her dirty breakfast dishes and moved them to the sink. She put another kettle on for a second pot of herbal tea and started to clean her dishes. There was this question spinning around in her head while participating in her actions and she tried to suppress it for a while 'til she couldn't hold it back any longer…

"Did you sleep with her?"

There it was.

Nick lifted his head to face Jess' back.

"What?"

"You heard me." She kept scrubbing her plate vigorously.

"I…I mean. With who do you mean?"

"You know what I mean and it's fine, Nick. You're a grown man."

There was a longer pause again. Sweat was starting to build on his forehead. He didn't know what to say, there were absolutely no words that seemed to be right in this moment.

"Ok…." He took a deep breath "Yes, I did. But(!) it was, it was.. an accident?" _What does that even mean, dude? An accident? That sounds ridiculous_ (Nick thought to himself)

"Ah, ok. I get it, A slip and fall situation, I see." Jess finished the last piece of dish and placed it onto a tray for drying.

She poured the hot water from the kettle into the tea pot and took both pot and mug, to move in the direction of…damn it. There was no room to hide. So she just decided to take advantage of Winston's empty room for now, who she knew would not be here all day.

"Jess…wait. Please?"

Jess turned slowly on her heels, already situated in the hallway and looked at Nick who had managed to get up on his feet. His eyes locked with hers even though she was quite far away from Nick.

"Just tell me one thing, Nick." Jess started "Is this like your thing, you know, sleeping with your roommates. I mean it's a convenient thing to do, having a next door neighbor for these kind of needs, especially for lazy people like you-"

"Jess, no. Please stop." Nick had moved closer, there was only about a meter or two distance between them left. "You know that's not true. Would you let me explain please?"

"You don't owe me any kind of explanation, Nick. Clean break, remember?" Jess' face showed no hint of emotion.

"Jess..." He didn't know what to say ( _Only maybe: Jess, I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. It didn't mean anything, I've been feeling guilty ever since. I initially was hoping to pick up where we left off_ )

"I don't know, I got home drunk from work and I was sad and she was nice to me and than I don't know...one thing lead to another. She's not ugly you know, it's hard for a man to turn down such an offer-"

"Oh my, shut up, Nick. What ever you're trying here.."

"No, wait. Bottom line is, that this was a one time thing, it'll never happen again and I'm sorry." Nick desperately tried to find her eyes again but she had already turned around to move towards Winston's bedroom.

While walking she replied one last thing "You don't have to be sorry Nick. We have no committed relationship or what so ever."

Her eyes felt watery as she closed the bedroom door behind her. She started thinking about this actual whole sleeping together thing. The longer she thought about it the more nauseating it made her feel _. Had they slept in her room or in his room? Did he make her breakfast in the morning as well?_ All these questions started to creep up…Oh god, she had to stop thinking about this … Good thing she was going to stay at Cece's for a couple of days, let things cool down a little. After Nick and her had slept together before she went to jury duty, she was determined not to make a bid deal out of it and here she was again, hurt because she could not handle Nick sleeping with another roommate. Great.


	4. Chapter 4

**Last chapter. The very last scene has maybe(?) the lightest M. Just saying as this as a "warning" because I can't properly estimate this whole rating thing.**

* * *

 **5 days later -Wednesday**

 _(via text message)_

HEY NICK. CAN U HELP ME MOVE BACK INTO THE LOFT THIS FRIDAY? DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU GUYS PUT MY BOXES WITH STUFF…

SURE. I CAN HELP. I HAVE A STAFF MEETING AROUND 6 PM. THOUGH. SO WHEN DO YOU WANNA MOVE ?

FANCY. I GUESS 10ISH, NOT AFTER NOON.

OK, GREAT. SEE YA.

* * *

 **Two days later - Friday**

Jess entered her room and was instantly met with two stacks of boxes in front of her. The room smelled all clean and a little abandoned. Her decorations, posters and any kind of colorful touch she had given her room was gone, probably/hopefully all packed up in these boxes right in front of her. Jess approached the boxes and had a look at the top one. She could recognize Nick's sloppy handwriting with a sharpie pencil, it said "Night stand and decorations", another said "Closet 1". Jess smiled to herself.

"Hey " Nick greeted her from the doorstep, where he was leaning against. "Long time, no see"

"Whoa, you scared me dude."

"Sorry"

"Hey thanks for moving my boxes back in here. You didn't have to do that though. This is not what I intended when I ask you help me move back in."

"Oh no problem, they are way to heavy for you anyways."

"Hey I'm a strong woman. Don't question my strength. "

"I'm not, I'm not. Believe me, I know. I remember all the times you beat me up, they are not forgotten."

"Haha. You're funny."

"I know" he smiled at her. "So I guess, you don't need any more help with putting stuff back to where it belongs, right?"

"No, please. Please DO NOT help me put my clothes back into my closet or arrange my decorations." Jess laughed because the idea of Nick decorating her room sounded like a nightmare.

"Good"

"Great"

"All right then."

Jess turned back around to have a closer look at her boxes and started moving the "Closet 1 –Box" into her closet. Nick kept standing there watching her at her actions.

"I thought you wanted to leave."

"I want to."

"So?"

"So...I don't know. I also kinda wanted to talk to you…apologize?" The last word he was not quiet sure about, if it was chosen correctly. Jess looked up to him, into his eyes. Than set the box aside which she was currently holding.

"Apologize?"

"Yeah I don't know, you know, about last week. And we kinda-"

Jess shook her head and held her hand up. "No. No, it's okay, Nick. Actually. I should be the one apologizing. I kinda overreacted a little bit last time we saw each other. I was hoping we could maybe …you know, just leave this behind us?"

"Really?" Nick looked a little surprised.

"Yeah Nick, really. You have your business, I have mine. We are friends, soo…"

"So we're cool?"

"The coolest"

"Ok, great." Nick was a little taken aback by her prosaic response but took it. Definitely better than if she would've been mad at him.

"Glad we have that settled. Now stop watching me you weirdo and get out of my room" she laughed a little but was also serious.

"Alright than. Bar tonight?"

"Can."

* * *

 **One week before**

 _(Cece's apartment, Friday late afternoon.)_

"Ceec, I don't know what to do."

"Do about what?"

"Nick."

"Oh…about that. Thanks for not telling me by the way."

"You know?"

"I do. You know he's bad at lying."

"He is."

"So is there something going on?"

"No there's not. Definitely not after today anyway. _Uuuhhrgg…"_

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened."

"Well there was sex, so something must have happened. He had to at least take his pants of, right?"

"I'm not talking about that"

"Than please enlighten me because you've been frustrated ever since you arrived here and has not said one comprehensible sentence. Sorry I don't mean to harsh but.."

"I know Cece, I know. "

"So tell me?"

"You know there are sometimes these happenings which like really annoy you but you don't want to actually talk about it because it's even more annoying that you feel the urge to talk about it because it's suppose to not affect you.."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You see, I should not talk about this…"

"Jess…come on, spill."

"Okay, okay." Jess pauses "So…Me, Nick have a friendly encounter before Jury Duty."

"Correct. By the way, was it good?" Cece asks rising her eyebrows.

"This is not what we are talking about"

"It always is Jess." She has a genuine smile now on her face.

"Okay, yes. Of course, have I ever complained?!"

"No but I don't know, things can change. I had this one guy-"

"This not what we're talking about."

"Ok, sorry. Go on."

"And before I left he was really sweet and you know how Nick can be…Well so I come back and I'm like not expecting much. You know, I thought, ok great. We had a fun night but we decided to be friends and it has been working great, so it's better to stick to that. Everything easy."

"How can you ever think things are easy between you guys?"

"Well it was."

"You don't go at each other because you're friends."

"I understand what you're saying and yes of course there are feelings involved, I know that, but we're better at being friends."

"Right. Anyway, go on."

"Yes. So I arrive back in the loft and I'm sleeping in his bed. And I really have a thing for him when he's drunk and vulnerable and honest. And he pecks on in the lips and I don't know he makes it all difficult and blurry again."

"You see."

"Yes. But it was only being friendly, nothing sexual or something. Ok, moving on. Because now what happens is, turns out the next morning he slept with Reagan, surrogate roommate. And I hated it. I really did and I got mad at him. I don't feel like I have any right to be mad at him."

"He slept with Reagan? What?"

"Yes."

"I cannot believe he slept with Reagan."

"I know. But do you understand that I don't feel like I'm allowed to be mad at him or to judge him?"

"Honestly, Jess, I get what you're saying but if it would have been me, I would have been pissed too."

"Really? Ok. Good. Because you know what my biggest problem is? I would have not cared if it would have been a random girl from the bar, we're not together, this is his business but Reagan was his roommate. For like one month. It feels like I was being replaced."

"Jess don't go there. You know that's not how it is."

"Yeah but now I don't know what to do…"

"Just act normal. You know, stay with me here for a couple of days, we're gonna do nice girly stuff, maybe some wedding planning if you're willing to? So that you can distance yourself a little bit from this situation."

"Act normal? By the way, wedding planning sounds fun. I also wanna do SPA too!"

"Ok, we will, honey. Yeah, in a week or so you might not even care that much anymore unless you want to confront him? Unless you do want to have the right to be hurt or pissed? Unless you think that being friends is not enough? But if you don't think so, I'd just try to drop it, act normal."

"I do wanna be friends…"

"Well than that's all I can advise you to do. "

* * *

 **Friday evening - Clyde's**

"Pink wine?"

"Yes, please."

"Coming up."

Nick bend down to reach for the whine bottle and poured wine into a glass.

"There you go."

"Where is everybody else?"

"Oh, I think their all still working. Either that or their too busy doin' the nasty stuff."

"Doing the nasty stuff? Since when do you talk like that."

"I don't know. Do you want me to say, they're probably having sex with their significant others. That's better?"

"I don't know, no, not really."

"See."

"Yeah and we're the dumb, unsatisfied ones. Drinking to forget!"

"Hey, I'm not drinking."

"You're not?"

"Nope. As a manager I decided it would be nice to be a good example in front of the staff."

"Oh, ok. You're taking this really serious aren't you?"

"I really am. It's really fun, Jess."

"Who would have thought. But I'm happy for you. That's what you want right?"

"Yes, I really do. You know, I'm not the smartest or anything but it's nice to have a little bit more of a demanding job. "

"I believe you…"

"But I still have enough time to screw this all up."

"Why would you screw this up. You have so many years of experience. I think there's no better choice than you as a manager. You gotta have a little bit more faith in yourself."

"Right because I don't have any reason to doubt my abilities to do anything. "

"I'm not gonna argue with you about this."

"But maybe I want to. Give me one good reason why would not screw this up?"

"I already did, you have experience like no one else."

"Doesn't mean I could be a good manager."

"Nick…stop it. This is annoying."

Nick looked a little grumpy, maybe frustrated. He didn't even know why he was trying to argue with Jess whether or not he could be a good manager. But maybe he just wanted to get some emotion out of her. He felt like she'd been quite distant, even clinical. He was not able to read her at all. Maybe she was still mad at him or something? Even he felt like they had to talk it out a little more and he thought Jess would have been even more eager to do so. But somehow…

"Jess are we really cool?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Because I felt like, I don't know…"

"Like what Nick?"

"I thought you'd maybe want to talk about what happened between us and you were really pissed about Reagan. And now you're like you don't care at all about anything like nothing happened."

"Well what's there to talk about?"

"What's there to talk about?" Nick tried to whisper, the bar was probably not the best choice to talk this out. "Oh I don't know, I guess I'm the only one here but I can't just forget that we spent the night. "

"But with Reagan you can?"

"Jess."

"No, Nick listen. Don't turn this on me. This is what you wanted. We're friends. Things happen. That's what you want right?" She looked at him questioningly and he seemed defeated. Before he could respond Schmidt walked into the bar.

"Heey fellooows! What's up?" Schmidt put an arm on Jess shoulder and showed them one humongous smile.

"We're kinda talking here right now."

"No we're not. Everything is fine. What's with the good mood?"

"Oh I don't know. I guess I'm still engaged to Cece so I think that's reason enough. She should arrive any minute too."

"Great. Wanna beer or something else?"

"No man. No alcohol for me before the wedding. Have to stay in my best form."

"'Till the wedding? You're gonna get embarrassingly drunk on your own wedding if you stop drinking now, you're already total lightweight."

"Alright, alright. But only one."

* * *

 **Saturday to Sunday night**

It was 4 am in the morning and Jess couldn't sleep. She had arrived around 1-2 am at the loft and she did feel a little tipsy from going out with Cece but she still couldn't sleep. Normally alcohol had the same effect as a sleeping pill on her but apparently not tonight. She wasn't able get the conversation with Nick from the night before out of her head and still didn't know what he would have responded. After all the other guys had arrived that evening they didn't talk much nor did they on Saturday. But now she left like they needed to talk. Her brain was currently playing with the idea of just going over there to his room, which was a crazy idea, she knew that. He was sleeping, she couldn't just walk over there in the middle of the night. That would be crazy right? Still there she was 10 min later, standing in front of his bedroom door. She knocked a couple of times but he didn't answer which of course was not surprising. After the fifth knock without an answer she opened the door slowly and examined the sleeping creature rolled up together on his bed. She walked towards the bed and set down at the edge. Slowly she moved her hand onto his shoulder and shook it lightly.

"Nick" she whispered, again and again until he turned to her side.

"hmmm?" he grunted.

"Nick, I'm sorry that I'm waking you up right now."

"Jess?" he said with a low and tired voice. "What are you doing in here, what time is it?"

"It's 4.23 am."

"What are you doing here?"

"I can't sleep. "

"So you came over here to wake me up too?"

"We need to talk."

"NOW?"

"Yes. I can't sleep."

"Can't this wait 'til tomorrow?"

"No."

"Oh god…Jessica." Nick rubbed his eyes and tried to get her into focus. He sat up a little, so that he wouldn't immediately fall asleep again.

"What is it, Jess?"

She paused for a little before she started "I can't forget about us either and I did want to talk about it."

"But?"

"But…" Jess didn't know how to continue, if she really wanted to be completely honest with him. "But. But you and Reagan, in our loft, your roomie…it hurt."

"Jess." He paused for little, reached out for her hand. "I know and I'm really, really sorry. If I could somehow go back in time and change it, I would, really. But I can't. I…this could have been anybody. I know it sucks that she was my roommate but it didn't mean anything, at all. Nada."

"I know but somehow I still am kind of pissed at you. I don't want to be and don't have the right to. We're friends. We. Are. friends"

"Maybe we're not. It's always been different with us. That's what you said yourself. It always has been and always will probably. And there are feelings that I have for you…that are definitely not friendly. But it's okay because we're Nick & Jess. That's how we are. So you do have the right to be mad at me."

"I do?"

"Yes."

"Ok. So I'm not gonna talk to you anymore?"

"I don't know Jess. You're mad at me, I can't tell you how to act mad." Nick chuckled.

"hmm…I'm gonna think about that." There was a silence for a little while, taking in the weirdness of this situation they were in.

"Do you wanna stay here tonight?"

"Here? With you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm supposed to be mad at you."

"You can be pissed at me here too. Imagine all the pranks you can play on me while I'm asleep."

"uuhh…you're right. Maybe that _is_ a good idea." Jess laughed a little.

Nick pulled at her hand that he was still holding into his direction. Hesitantly, she moved towards him and crawled under his bedspread. It was weird at first and she didn't know why she actually had agreed to this but she couldn't lie, it did feel good. Carefully, Nick pulled an arm around her and pulled her closer. His body was radiating a lot of heat as usual. She placed her head onto his should, near his neck, and her hand on his chest.

"Goodnight."

* * *

 **Next morning**

Nick woke up when he felt the back of a hand slap him not so very gentle right into his face. _Ouch._ He opened his eyes and caught the hand disturbing his sleep. He placed it back onto to his chest and realized that they hadn't moved at all during the night. He turned his face to have a glance at Jess. There she was. All perfect and beautiful. As he was leaning in to place a kiss on her forehead, she opened her eyes. Nick stopped in his movement and distanced himself again so that he could look into her eyes.

"Mornin' "

"Good morning"

"So I can see you were still pissed at me this morning"

"Why?"

"Well you kinda slapped me in the face."

"I did?" she giggled a little.

"Yes"

"Good."

"Good? That hurt."

"Even better."

"Alright I get it, I see what you're doing."

"I'm not doing anything. To be honest though I did sleep very well."

"Oh you don't say?"

"Yes."

"Interesting."

Silence fell upon them. They kept smiling at each other and Jess didn't understand.

"Ah, Nick. What are we doing here?"

"I don't know Jess. You wouldn't get out of my bed last night, so you convinced me to let you stay here…"

"Ah, you're right. Now I remember. Thank you so much...No, seriously?"

"I don't know Jess, nothing happened here. You're just lying next to me?!"

"I am…" Jess closed her eyes and tried to focus "God dammit…" she whispered, more to herself.

"Hey Jess, I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable just say so?"

"No. No, I'm definitely not uncomfortable."

"Good because neither am I."

Jess tried to loose a little physical contact and moved a little away from him. She turned her body in his direction and supported her head with her hand. Jess studied his face for a few seconds, he had a three-day stubble and definitely needed a new haircut, his hair had grown long and were standing up in every direction possible. But she also didn't want him to get a haircut because she liked the messy hair. She liked much more than only his messy bed hair. His eyes, his mouth, his hands, his bubble belly, his…a lot of things.

"Right now, I don't wanna be friends." she observed more for herself than for him.

"Good so come back here." But she didn't move. So he just stirred closer towards her, directly facing her. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before his right hand carefully trailed down from her ribcage to her waist. His eyes followed the movement of his hand until it was settled further down at her hip and than glanced back into her eyes. Without rethinking this too much, he captured her cherry red lips. She tilted her head a little in eager response and placed a hand onto his stubble. His hand moved down her butt cheek and pulled her closer into him…As the kiss intensified, he rolled on top of her, his hands further exploring her body. He could feel the goose bumps that were forming on her bare skin and it made him even more excited. Nick moved down to her neck and started nipping and biting her skin gently while her hands found his hair. God, she loved this. One hand moved down from his head towards his ass, her fingers reaching the waistband of his boxers. With a quick movement she was touching and squeezing bare skin. He moaned against her neck and he was so close to her, his hardness pressing into her crotch and it all felt right.

"Nick?"

He stopped. "What?" he whispered against her skin.

She directed his head towards hers again, so that she could look him in the eyes. Her palm cupped his cheek again, her thumb stroking his stubble lightly. She lifted her head and placed a tender kiss onto his lips, pouring as much emotion into it as she could.

"After this, I don't want to go back."

* * *

 **Ok so this was the last chapter, it might've felt a little rushed, sorry, but I hate to leave things unfinished. Multi-chapter fics are definitely not for me and I stepped completely out of my comfort zone with writing feelings, drama and things like that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading! And, oh of course, happy season 5! I'm kind of hopeful.**


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